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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don’t get the huge rise in teens seeing therapist. Except in extreme cases of trauma or mental illness, why is this common place now? [/quote]

The schools use therapists as a bandaid recommendation to try to fix real parenting problems and in-school problems.  The government gave extra money to schools to resolve Covid-era trauma (which I agree is real) and so our school turned a firehose of attention onto every kid who wasn't 100% mainstream and continuously cheerful.  Nobody was allowed to be a pouty or sulky kid without an interrogation.

My son was recommended therapy by the school.  He didn't want to go to therapy or talk to the school psychologist just due to being sad and sassy in middle school.

Most of what made him sad and sassy was a middle school environment that was lowest common denominator gen ed with discipline problems.  I told admin they needed to fix their own problems first.  My kid is much better now in high school because he's older and the classes are harder and he found a great school-based club that he can invest his energies into in a meaningful way.

The middle school also improved a lot after he left.  But it took about three years and a limited phone use policy.

That makes me feel like the therapy recommendation was emotional policing and a bandaid.  It's for people who like to think about feelings and talk a lot about them rather than do things to keep occupied and recover (move on).  Agree that the profession is full of young women who are "nice" and very people-oriented but haven't even parented yet. They care but they don't have a lot of experience so rely on tools like rating charts and referrals.  And they are usually touchy-feely emotion 
discussers who don't really respect a child's right to privacy of thoughts and feelings.

Schools are also concerned about contributing to or not addressing suicide risk and school violence risks.  Makes sense but officials' fear contaminates handling situations in a productive manner.[/quote]

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